CRISIS CENTRE DIOCESE OF AMBOINA
Jalan Pattimura 32 -- Ambon 97124 -- Indonesia
Tel 0062 (0)911 342195 Fax 0062 (0)911 355337
E-mail: crisiscentre01@hotmail.com
Ambon, May 1, 2005
THE SITUATION IN AMBON/MOLUCCAS - Report No. 476
1. BRACING FOR APRIL 25 - April 25th is the annual commemoration of the founding
of the RMS ("Republik Maluku Selatan") separatist movement, now 55 years ago.
Though a few years back the movement was all but extinct, its aspiration of an
independent nation of the Central Moluccas (island of Ambon and the nearby Lease
islands) was revitalized by the FKM ("Front Kedaulatan Maluku", Moluccas
sovereignty Front). The FKM was established by a physician named Dr. Alex
Manuputty, on December 18, 2000. This FKM has brought about much suffering and
damage, because certain persons succeeded in provoking many Muslims to regard all
Christians as members of the FKM, wishing to erect an independent (Christian?)
nation.
2. BOMB TERROR - At about 01.30 a.m. on April 12, a bomb exploded between the
Pohon Pule bridge and the Silo church. Local civilians - terrified - poured out of their
houses. However, there were no reports of significant damage or casualties. The
following days, on several other occasions, smaller bombs were detonated. Though
not inflicting damage, these events nevertheless triggered tenseness among Ambon's
residents, even caused quite a number of civilians to leave their houses for safer
locations till after April 25.
3. DETENTION - Several people suspected of separatist activities were arrested on
and around April 25. One of the first to be detained - on April 11 - was Pemmy
Souissa. Pemmy, as a Christian grassroot, was one of the 70 Malino-II delegates
when in February 2002 - peace was made between the conflicting parties and the
Government (see Report 288, May 20, 2003). Now, however, he turned out to have
been involved in FKM/RMS separatist activities in last year's disastrous 25 April RMS
commemoration.
4. UNDISTURBED APRIL 25 - As this year's April 25th was coming near, police and
military and also many civilians - both muslims and christians - were in full alert,
guarding certain strategic locations and carrying out house-to-house sweeping on
weaponry and RMS items, not without success. Anyhow, the nasty events of last
year could be averted successfully. On April 25 and several days after, on Ambon
island only 7 RMS flags were hoisted, whereas in the village of Aboru, island of
Haruku, 4 flags were raised. There has been no mentioning of any official RMS Flag
Raising Ceremony. [ Apologize for delayed report: we were out of office for some
time].
C.J.Böhm msc,
Crisis Centre Diocese of Amboina |
